The Ancient Regime eBook

sovereignty. No one may alienate or lose this
portion of his sovereignty; it is inseparable from
his person, and, on delegating it to another, he reserves
to himself full possession of it. — The liberty,
equality and sovereignty of the people constitute
the first articles of the social contract. These
are rigorously deduced from a primary definition; other
rights of the citizen are to be no less rigorously
deduced from it, the main features of the constitution,
the most important civil and political laws, in short,
the order, the form and the spirit of the new state.

II. NAIVE CONVICTIONS

The first result. — The theory easily applied.
— Confidence in it due to belief in man’s
inherent goodness and reasonableness.

Hence, two consequences.-In the first place, a society
thus organized is the only just one; for, the reverse
of all others, it is not the result of a blind subjection
to traditions, but of a contract concluded among equals,
examined in open daylight, and assented to in full
freedom.[5] The social contract, composed of demonstrated
theorems, has the authority of geometry; hence an equal
value at all times, in every place, and for every
people; it is accordingly rightfully established.
Those who put an obstacle in its way are enemies
of the human race; whether a government, an aristocracy
or a clergy, they must be overthrown. Revolt
is simply just defense; in withdrawing ourselves from
their hands we only recover what is wrongfully held
and which legitimately belongs to us. — In the
second place, this social code, as just set forth,
once promulgated, is applicable without misconception
or resistance; for it is a species of moral geometry,
simpler than any other, reduced to first principles,
founded on the clearest and most popular notions, and,
in four steps, leading to capital truths. The
comprehension and application of these truths demand
no preparatory study or profound reflection; Reason
is enough, and even common sense. Prejudice
and selfishness alone might impair the testimony;
but never will testimony be wanting in a sound brain
and in an upright heart. Explain the rights of
man to a laborer or to a peasant and at once he becomes
an able politician; teach children the citizen’s
catechism and, on leaving school, they comprehend
duties and rights as well as the four fundamental
principles. — Thereupon hope spreads her wings
to the fullest extent, all obstacles seem removed.
It is admitted that, of itself, and through its own
force, the theory engenders its own application, and
that it suffices for men to decree or accept the social
compact to acquire suddenly by this act the capacity
for comprehending it and the disposition to carry
it out.